15 nostalgic classic Doctor Who hat-tips in the Day of the Doctor – what did you spot?

There were plenty of classic nods hidden in The Day of the Doctor (Picture: BBC)

The Day of the Doctor was delightful. It moved the Doctor Who myth forward and included plenty of nostalgic hat-tips to the past. Writer and showrunner Steven Moffat is a fan at heart too and gave us plenty to chew on in the 50th anniversary special.

Looking back past 2005, here’s a little list of nostalgic snippets that will evoke memories of Doctor Who for fans of the show from 1963 to 1989.

1. Opening credits

Opening credits (Picture: BBC)

Roll back to 1963 and this is what we would had seen at the very start of Doctor Who. Ron Grainer’s theme set by BBC Radiophonic Workshop doyenne Delia Derbyshire still sounds amazing. The swirling graphic remains magical and weird too. What a perfect start.

2. Coal Hill School

Coal Hill (Picture: BBC)

Where it all began. Now I. Chesterton is the chairman of governors and W. Coburn, the Headmaster. A certain Ian Chesterton was one of the first Doctor’s companions and used to teach there. And Anthony Coburn wrote the first episode. Eagle-eyed fan pay-off galore!

And Clara is teaching there now. Coincidence?

3. The playground clock

(Picture: BBC)

And the clock as Clara rides off reads 5:16. That’s the time the first episode began on 23 November 1963. Although this scene can’t be a November evening, because it’s still light.

4. Unit call signs
Not only does Kate Stewart return but so does UNIT. But best of all they’re still using the UNIT radio call signs of old. ‘Greyhound leader’ is UNIT HQ. ‘Blue Eagle’ must be the Tardis, Trap One.

5. Osgood’s scarf

Osgood’s scarf – looks like the 4th Doctor’s (Picture: BBC)

You may admire the scarf Osgood wears. The Doctor did.

6. Dating Files

Clara with Kate Stewart (Picture: BBC)

Kate Stewart: ‘Codename Cromer depending on the dating protocol.’ A cheeky reference to the fact that UNIT stories broadcast in the 1970s were supposed to be set in the 1980s, but the continuity was often wrong onscreen.

7. Zygons

Zygon’s – not seen since the 70s (Picture: BBC)

Yup and Daleks. Classic Who monsters.

8. Three Doctors?

Kate Stewart says: ‘There are three of them now. There’s a precedent for that.’ Yes, the 1973 file: The Three Doctors.

9) ‘Sandshoes and Grandad’

The three Doctors (Picture: BBC)

Who Eleven criticises his predecessors. See also above: ‘a dandy and a clown.’

10. Memories

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was remembered in The Day of the Doctor (Picture: BBC)

The wall displays in the Black Archive show a lot of old friends. Including the proper Brigadier, the robot Kamelion and all the early companions. Also seen clearly are Nyssa and Tegan.

11. On kissing

The Doctor’s wife – Queen Elizabeth I (Picture: BBC)

David Tennant is in a clinch with Elizabeth I. The Doctor was chaste until the 1996 adventure with Grace Holloway. Now the Tardis is a veritable snogbox.

Hurt: ‘Is there a lot of this in the future?’Smith: ‘It does start to happen, yeah.’

12. The round things.
The Tardis desktop glitches and reverts to ‘the round things’ and we see the classic Tardis interior roundels.